Battle for Eatonville
The Battle for Eatonville was a bloody six month war between Cascade and the Cascadian Free State. The battle was fought in the area around Eatonville, resulting in civilian casualties, a number of Eatonvillians died, all to enemy attack helicopters, strike bombers, and surface to surface rockets. 900 people died during the struggle altogether, the majority being CFS troops. Beginning It all began when the Cascadian Free State rose to power, taking control of most of Washington thanks mostly to a sinister device with a ridiculously long name that, when activated, brainwashes the victim into Socialism. The CFS had taken the capital city of Olympia and prepared to move units south to the important Oregonian City of Portland. The nearby town of Eatonville had received word that CFS units were approaching the area and were near Orting at that moment. Desperately, the town officials hastily assembled a Militia which consisted of Eatonville citizens, people living in the isolated houses and hamlets around the town, refugees from other parts of Washington who fled the CFS, and Mercenaries from the western parts of the United States and Canada. Once assembled, the town sent 50 men to Kapowsin, in the direct path of the CFS forces, in order to halt their advance. By the time they got there, 200 CFS troops neared the hamlet, and the Militiamen assembled in the middle opf the crossroads right in the path of the CFS. When the CFS soldiers got there, they were surprised to discover a small Eatonvillian force there yo meet them. The order was given, "Open Fire!", and the Militia troops fired their M16, AK-47, and M4 Assault Rifles into the enemy, cutting down 12 and injuring 24 others. The CFS replied with their own volley, killing 24 and wounding 12. The Militiamen were routed, fleeing into the forest towards home, those unlucky wounded who couldn't keep up with the others killed themselves to prevent them from being brainwashed to become Socialist, thus leading to a particularly harsh decree by the town council: Never surrender, those that do end up in that situation either try to escape or commit suicide, and thus, no Cascadian troops were ever taken prisoner during the war. Start of the War Startled by this action the CFS Military Command sent 10,000 men into the Ohop Valley and move into Eatonville. By the time they got there however, the Eatonvillians got wind of the upcoming attack and scrambled 8800 Militiamen to counter the CFS in the valley. The townspeople built trenches, set up barbed wire, mines, anti-tank obstacles, and set up a huge ring of defenses. Snipers were place in trees and buildings in the valley, and artillery guns were placed on Dow Ridge, bearing down on the valley below. On May 2, 15 days since the opening skirmish at Kapowsin, the CFS troops reached the valley. When they got there, they were met by a hail of bullets, mowing soldiers down and pinning the survivors down. The Artillery on Dow Ridge opened fire on the Cascadian forces below, blowing them to pieces. The Cascadian Leader Senhart was there with his men, anticipating the quick fall of this seemingly minor irritant that was the town of Eatonville. As he later recalled in his memoir, Becoming A Socialist Revolutionary For Dummies, Senhart described witnessing his own soldiers dying right in front of him, "They kept falling, falling, falling, singly, in groups, and in rows. The fire was constant, as these bullets ripped right through the soldiers' flesh. Explosions were happening every second, tearing us to bits. One surprised soldier cried out, 'Damn! Where the hell are they?!', It was horrible." Much to the shock and surprise of Senhart and his men, 5 De Havilland Mosquitoes, an extremely fast and nimble fighter that also excels as a bomber, dived down on the PAC forces cannons blazing. Cutting down many soldiers and even blew up a Puma AFV, Senhart wrote in his memoir, "I still remember shocked I was when those fighters dived down on us, blasting their guns and firing off air to surface missiles. One panicked soldier screamed, 'How the hell did they get an Air Force so quickly?!!!'. A hot headed young man started firing his M16 at one of the fighters, I said to him, 'Hold your fire! There's no way you can even scratch that damned thing!!', to which he stopped." After the Mosquitoes headed back to Swanson Airport to refuel and rearm, the Commander-In-Chief of all Cascadian Forces, General Fred Wilson, gave the order for 5000 Militiamen to run out of their hiding spots in the trees along Ohop Creek and charge headlong into the PAC ranks. The soldiers were specially equipped for this task, they had melee combat weapons such as clubs, axes, bats, hammers, swords, knives, daggers, bayonets attached to their rifles, and sabers, they were to use these weapons once they got in close with the enemy. An officer gave the order to charge, and thus, the 5000 men charge out of their hiding place, screaming, cheering, singing patriotic songs, some even imitated the famous Civil War-era "Rebel Yell", a shrill set of screams that terrified the enemy and boosted their own morale, they also shouted things like, "Go back to your fancy cities, ya bunch of city boys!". They charged forward, uninterrupted by several of their own getting shot by enemy fire. They finally crashed into the PAC ranks, mowing down many in their paths. Senhart was rallying his men, trying to organize them when disaster struck, future general George Van Eaton later recalled the moment, "I was firing of a few couple round bursts with my AK, trying to conserve ammo. Bob Johnston raised his .303 Winchester rifle to shoot a guy, when suddenly a Sergent called out, 'It's their damned leader, kill him!!!', with that, Johnston fired his rifle at the enemy leader, wounding him in the chest." After Senhart was wounded and was dragged into an APC, the Eatonvillians continued the melee warfare against the CFS troops. Finally, after some 45 minutes of chaotic fist fights and bayonet slashing and general carnage, the CFS forces began to retreat back to Graham and Kapowsin, ending the biggest and bloodiest battle of the war. Eatonville was spared... for now. After the battle of Ohop Valley, the PAC regrouped at various camps in Kapowsin, Yelm, McKenna, and Graham. The Eatonvillians clashed with the PAC several more times, only for their forces to suffer heavy casualties. The militiamen's morale sank in the wake of multiple defeats as PAC forces neared the town of Eatonville. However, one Eatonvillian had a brilliant idea: That the Militia attempt to wage Guerrilla Warfare against the PAC. George Greene said that the militiamen knew the terrain well, a key asset in waging Guerrilla Warfare. So, the militia applied Guerrilla Warfare with tremendous success, one Eatonvillian company pinned down 2400 PAC troops, inflicting heavy casualties. This clash typified the guerrilla campaign against Cascadia. The guerrilla attacks are beginning to turn the tide of the war. Near End The Militia began to launch surprise attacks on PAC encampments and outposts. With the Militia attacking PAC camps and ambushing PAC convoys, the Cascadian public called for the government to do something. So Senhart, still recovering from his wounds that he received in the Ohop Valley, ordered the use of the sinister device that allowed him to gain control over much of the Pacific Northwest. So the device was used, but it made the Eatonvillians rabidly anti-communist and much more willing to beat off the PAC. So they escalated their attacks, with the most notable of these attacks a surprise assault on a small camp nearby Northwest Trek, the famous Washingtonian wildlife park, killing 28 PAC troops and taking 30 more prisoner. After hearing of the escalated attacks, Senhart ordered the use of the device again, only for it to brainwash 250 PAC soldiers garrisoned in Graham. When they arrived at Eatonville, the morale of the militia soared, further escalating the attacks. Finally, it culminated in two massively devastating skirmishes that brought the war to an end: The Battle of Yelm and the Raid of Kapowsin. Two days after the Graham Mutineers entered Eatonville, 50 Eatonvillian troops on jeeps attacked a PAC encampment in Yelm. After an hour and a half of chaos ensued as the Eatonvillian troops fought against the PAC forces through the streets of Yelm, until finally the Militiamen sped off for Eatonville. The Raid was a success as 35 PAC vehicles were destroyed and 64 PAC troops and only 8 Militiamen were killed. A week later, another raid took place, this one attacking a small outpost in Kapowsin, where it had all began, and killed 26 PAC soldiers and 4 PAC vehicles destroyed, with no casualties on the side of the Eatonvillians. These two battles led Senhart to agree a ceasefire with the Eatonvillian leaders. Firing Stops On October 4, Senhart met with Eatonvillian leader George Greene to negotiate. Greene said that Cascade be recognized as an autonomous state, and that the CFS shall not go to war with Cascade and that they leave the nation alone. Senhart reluctantly agreed to these terms. Aftermath After negotiations with Greene concluded, Senhart ordered the remaining PAC forces in the area to head back to Tacoma to regroup before heading to Portland via I-5. These actions would lead to the much more bloody and brutal Battle of Portland, a horrific clash that would claim even more lives than the Battle for Eatonville. Legacy After the war was over, the town council met in the Town Hall, they unanimously agreed to declare independence. The Battle for Eatonville cost the region many lives, had destroyed many buildings throughout the area, and had ruined acres of pristine wilderness. But the town council signed a constitution, and declared their new nation to be named Cascade, and that the militia to be replaced with a legitimate military. Category:Cascadian Free State Category:Cascade